Developers were warned they could still face months of uncertainty, as bid-submission finally closed on a UK renewables auction process rocked by eleventh-hour legal action that was condemned by one major offshore wind player as “surprising and disappointing”.

The bidding window for the third Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction shut on Thursday, two weeks later than originally scheduled after UK developer Banks Renewables sought permission to launch a judicial review challenging the legality of exclusion of most onshore wind projects from the process.